Cold Case: Kevin Hicks

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SOUTH WINDSOR UNSOLVED MURDER

THE MURDER OF KEVIN HICKS

TYPE OF CRIME: KIDNAPPING/MURDER

DATE: KEVIN HICKS WAS REPORTED MISSING ON OCTOBER 8, 1988

DATE: THE BODY OF KEVIN HICKS WAS FOUND ON OCTOBER 23, 1988

CAUSE OF DEATH: 2 GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE HEAD

MANNER OF DEATH: HOMICIDE

REWARD: $30,000 DOLLARS BY THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

Kevin Hicks was a 15-year-old boy and a Hartford resident in 1988. He was friends with a larger group of teenagers who frequented the Albany Avenue area, a group of kids that were known by the name of “The Ave.”

On October 8, 1988 Kevin Hicks ran into trouble on the street. Hartford Police received reports that Kevin was being chased by several males on Albany Avenue. No one saw Kevin alive after that day and he was reported to police as a missing person. Police began their investigation and launched an intensive effort to locate him. On October 23, 15 days after the missing report was filed, South Windsor Police were called to a wooded area ¼ mile west of Main Street near the Connecticut River on the report of a body found by hikers.

South Windsor Police responded and were led to the body by the people who found it. The body was a black male and was badly decomposed. A crime scene was established in the area of the body and evidence collected. The body was taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office and was identified as Kevin Hicks.

Police believe that Kevin was murdered between Hartford and South Windsor and his body dumped in the wooded area where it was found. The location of the body was classified as a “dump site” and was a secondary crime scene. The placement of Kevin in the remote area of South Windsor was selected to hinder any police investigation if it were found.

The murder of Kevin Hicks had a profound effect on his friends and classmates. When Chris Lyons was a police officer in the 80's, he remembers the kids Hicks hung out with and played sports with were devastated. It may have been the first time that any of his group of friends had been murdered and this affected them all.

“The Ave” was a large group of teenagers who banded together to sell drugs and commit other crimes. The group was a topic of many police roll calls and safety bulletins. Many of the persons belonging to this group had a tough future ahead. Many are incarcerated, some have been murdered, and some learned their lessons and led a productive life with families and jobs.

Kevin Hicks was only 15 when he was chased and kidnapped from the streets of of Hartford. He would have been 42-years-old this week. The murder greatly affected his friends and family and it is time to solve this 27-year-old case to bring justice to his family.

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